S-Class (W221/C216) S-class-Crash: Wrong conditions

[Mr. Mercedes]

But where does it say the system would not work on a bridge. In all probability it would. Unlike the building, a bridge is not a completely solid metal structure. The S-class underwent more than 8 million kilometers of testing. In all this time they never went over a metal bridge with distronic active?

 

[yomomwhat]

In all this time they never went over a metal bridge with distronic active?

haha exactly!
apparently it is still going to be broadcast on tv..tonight......omg! they damaged £150000 of cars so like $300000! just 3 s-classes involved ha! i cannot believe though that they are still going to show it as people who do not really read the internet and just watch the tv are not going to know the truth.....unless the tv show explains they are dumb

rik....does this bridge have a metal roof? no! are the side walls as high as a warehouse? no....

anyway mercedes engineers say it works prefectly over bridges, they could not do so many km without going over a bridge

is it me or do you have something against MB?

btw isn't normal cruise control banned on some motorways in belgium? (not distronic...just the ones that you set it at a certain speed and it keeps going whatever is in the way!)

 

[Yperion]

Mercedes TV demo turns into 3-car pile-up

A mishap during a Mercedes demonstration to the press left many onlookers wondering if the German automakers had hired the same team behind some of Bill Gates’ botched Windows presentations of the 1990s. The new Mercedes S-Class has a sophisticated radar-based braking system that can automatically prevent accidents. But with cameras rolling and photographers standing by, something went wrong with the car’s radar system, resulting in a 3-car fender-bender involving over $200,000 worth of cars. In the demo, Mercedes drives 3 cars behind each other. The first car hits the brakes, and the two following S-Class sedans are supposed to brake down automatically, to avoid a crash. What actually happened was slightly different: the first car braked, and the two others continued right into the back of each other. Mercedes blames the steel hall in which the test was conducted for interfering with the radar system. The system “works perfectly in all other circumstances”, according to Mercedes.

Source: Mercedes TV demo turns into 3-car pile-up

 

[gustavo]

Mercedes TV demo turns into 3-car pile-up

A mishap during a Mercedes demonstration to the press left many onlookers wondering if the German automakers had hired the same team behind some of Bill Gates’ botched Windows presentations of the 1990s. The new Mercedes S-Class has a sophisticated radar-based braking system that can automatically prevent accidents. But with cameras rolling and photographers standing by, something went wrong with the car’s radar system, resulting in a 3-car fender-bender involving over $200,000 worth of cars. In the demo, Mercedes drives 3 cars behind each other. The first car hits the brakes, and the two following S-Class sedans are supposed to brake down automatically, to avoid a crash. What actually happened was slightly different: the first car braked, and the two others continued right into the back of each other. Mercedes blames the steel hall in which the test was conducted for interfering with the radar system. The system “works perfectly in all other circumstances”, according to Mercedes.

Source: Mercedes TV demo turns into 3-car pile-up

They have no clue how the whole demo happened. Stupid reporters as usual.

The braking system of the S-class is the most advanced braking system in the automotive world.

 

[Mr. Mercedes]

You know the funny thing about this whole thing. The engineers behind this are probably sooooo worried. They going to be in DEEP S**T with management.

 

[gustavo]

You know the funny thing about this whole thing. The engineers behind this are probably sooooo worried. They going to be in DEEP S**T with management.

I have to admit: When you know as an engineer, that this test will not work, why do you perform it?

What I've read in the press so far:

The technicians - knowing that this test will not work in the metall coated hall - advised the driver ( a journalist ) to brake manually while passing a special adjusted brake sign ( a plank ). He missed the brake sign about 0.2 seconds and therefore the 'demo' failed. Now I want to know, if that story is true, who is dumber: The technicians or the journalist?

 

[Alx]

Here's the current scoop:

Embarrassing mistake

In the programme, Mercedes drives 3 S-classes behind each other. The first car hits the brakes, and the two following cars brake down automatically, to avoid a crash. In theory. In practice, the first car braked, and the two others continued right into the back of each other, resulting in a 3-car pile-up at the test site.

According to a German news site, the blushing Mercedes security engineers soon discovered the problem: The test had been done in a hall which was made of steel. This confuses the radar, and the system doesn't work properly, causing more than £150,000 worth of cars to crumple into each other.

The system "works perfectly in all other circumstances", according to Mercedes. For now, though, it may be worth keeping your foot near the brake pedal.

The programme in question is showed on German RTL Television tonight.

Car News & UK Car Industry Update

You know someones getting fired for this screw up!

 

[Mr. Chigga_Chan]

owned

 

[notic]

quite embarrasing. i wonder what the confidence levels of mb drivers are now after knowing that distronic might fail and maybe pre-safe as well.

 

[Centurion]

owned

I second that. I knew that system wasn't bullet proof. BTW if you drive behind this jet plane you better have you foot on the brakes becasue it has stealth technology and won't be detected by the new S. Too bad you can't get your car stealthed(?) and get all the new S-class drivers into trouble.

 

[gustavo]

quite embarrasing. i wonder what the confidence levels of mb drivers are now after knowing that distronic might fail and maybe pre-safe as well.

LOL, what are you talking about? Do you drive your car usually in a metal cage?

 

[Yaz]

quite embarrasing. i wonder what the confidence levels of mb drivers are now after knowing that distronic might fail and maybe pre-safe as well.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but doesn’t the article say that Brake Assist is the feature that failed here, not Distronic Plus.
And in order for Brake Assist to work, you need to apply the brakes a bit and then the car will determine if more or less braking is needed. Maybe the driver thought he was using Distronic Plus, so maybe he didn’t apply the brakes, thinking that the car is supposed to stop on its own.
Is there a video online of this show?

 

[yomomwhat]

Correct me if I’m wrong, but doesn’t the article say that Brake Assist is the feature that failed here, not Distronic Plus.
And in order for Brake Assist to work, you need to apply the brakes a bit and then the car will determine if more or less braking is needed. Maybe the driver thought he was using Distronic Plus, so maybe he didn’t apply the brakes, thinking that the car is supposed to stop on its own.
Is there a video online of this show?

well if it was broadcast on german tv then there should be a video of it somewhere!!!! i thought brake assist plus was just when you arent using distronic and need to break sharply then you put your foot on the pedal!

 

[Yaz]

Found the video and a quick summarized translation
Video: http://www.stern.de/tv/sterntv/549835.html?nv=cp_L2_

Summary:

DC wanted to demonstrate the advantages of their new Distronic system in a REAL (hehe) test covered by the german
TV show "Stern-TV" (not a car related show, just reporting about some tech stuff now and then).

So they arranged the following scenario in their own safety test building (normally used for crash tests):

A new Distronic equipped S class should approach some parking cars unvisible due to artificial fog with a speed of 55 km/h. In theory the Distronic due to its radar technology would identify the obstacles (cars) although not visible for the S class's driver (fog) early enough to give him an acoustic warning. The driver would then engage the break, which automatically would initiate an emergency break assisted by the BreakAssist system.

The problem: DC engineers figured out beforehand that the radar system would not work properly in the building due to reflecting metal parts of the building (that's at least the story they told after the "incident").

Therefore the entire test was FAKED (without telling the TV show's management in advance): they placed a wooden plank on the floor as an indicator for the driver when to engage the break - really high tech

In order to increase the credibility of the test, a "neutral" driver was chosen (not a DC employee). And yes guess where they found an "indpendent" driver being ready to get corrupted: it was the head reporter of the german car magazine "Autobild" (certainly in exchange of a nice exclusive story like "I have been the first to test the Distronic under REAL conditions and it's a blast..")

Now let the fun begin: in the first try the driver was either too silly to engage the break pedal early enough (perhaps he could not spot the wooden plank) or they have been messing up in calculating the appropriate distance plank/obstacle or the breaks did not work well (driver was claiming the latter after the test) - so he just crashed into the other car (the TV team taking record of the scene of course ).

After the crash the driver was discussing with some DC engineers what went wrong and how to avoid a crash in a second test. Unfortunately the driver and the engineers forgot that the microphones of the TV team still had been turned on.......A member of the TV team asked whether he could participate in a second test as a passenger (courageous guy )....the DC engineer agreed only to withdraw his approval a minute later after the driver reminded him that the witness from the TV team would realize that there would be no acoustic warning and that he would engage the break pedal just at the position of the wooden plank.....STILL ON AIR....LOL....

A second and third test was conducted by the Autobild reporter (this time not crashing the car) and afterwords the TV crew confronted the driver and the DC engineers with their findings: holy cow ! their faces changed colors quicker than any F1 gearbox could change gears

This embarassment is unparalelled !

To top the crazyness the Autobild-reporter indeed used the story in the latest Autobild-issue to praise the value of the Distronic system ! - the guy has been fired by Autobild today....

The entire story is so unbelievable...if it would have been a Monty Python movie sketch I would have cramped myself on the floor laughing, but as it is just another example of how to destroy the rest of the credibility of car makers' marketing departments and car magazine's "independence" there is some bitter taste to this story.

It will be very interesting to see how DC and Autobild will try to recover credibility (maybe DC offers a wooden plank option for their S class in the future )

 

[gustavo]

It will be very interesting to see how DC and Autobild will try to recover credibility (maybe DC offers a wooden plank option for their S class in the future )

I don't see any credibility gap on the part of DC, just a marketing failure.

 

[Mr. Mercedes]

The fact that the driver didn't feel the wooden plank just shows what a wonder the airmatic suspension must be.

 

[mrnet_01]

The fact that the driver didn't feel the wooden plank just shows what a wonder the airmatic suspension must be.

 

[yomomwhat]

why didnt they just do the test outside???????????.......
talking of crash tests i was just looking on the EURO NCAP crash test site and cant find it on there...they only go up to executive cars!...anyone know how it did in the crash tests? i bet it got 5 stars lol!

 

[Mr. Mercedes]

http://www.stern.de/tv/sterntv/549835.html?nv=cp_L2_

The entire video of this. Can somebody please translate?

At least the car is looking superb.

 

[yomomwhat]

http://www.stern.de/tv/sterntv/549835.html?nv=cp_L2_

The entire video of this. Can somebody please translate?

At least the car is looking superb.

yaz posted the the video link 5 posts above lol, ha, well the "scheisse scheisse scheisse" bit when he crashes it is pretty obvious lol!! i guess all it says is an extended version of what the translated text versions say, may be some german person here could translate it all ha! i know quite a bit of german but translating all of that i might make a mistake or two haaa